What do the Ravens need to do to shore things up after tough division loss?
Browns quarterback Jameis Winston tossed a 38-yard touchdown pass — his third scoring strike of the game — to Cedric Tillman with 59 seconds left. And the lowly Browns knocked off the well-respected Ravens on Sunday to snap a five-game losing streak.
The Ravens fell to 5-3 and left the field with plenty of questions to answer for the somewhat shocking loss to their rivals.
Ravens QB Lamar Jackson had a poor performance
First, let’s be fair. Jackson is so good, he sets his own high bar. It’s difficult week to week not to fall short of it. In this game, he had 15 incomplete passes in 38 attempts. Jackson finished with 289 yards passing and two touchdowns while rushing for 46 yards on eight attempts.
The Browns harassed him and made it tough for him to keep the Ravens’ offense moving consistently. Jackson said the Browns may be a tad underrated, according to espn.com.
“You can look at the Browns’ record and say that’s a sorry team, but this is the NFL,” said Jackson. “Any week can be your day. We didn’t make the plays. We didn’t make the calls to win the game.”
However, Jackson said the game could have gone the other way, according to baltimoresun.com.
“Left a lot of opportunities out there,” Jackson said. “Just not making those plays when they come to us. Simple as that. We just got to make them. It’s no big theory behind it. We’re just in a funk right now. A lot of those is big, game-changing plays.”
Ravens’ head coach John Harbaugh said his team didn’t do enough.
“We just didn’t do a good enough job with it,” Harbaugh said of the play. “As a call, you look back, you wish you hadn’t called that. You wish it would’ve been better as a play. But that’s football.”
The first half particularly showed a lack of spark for the Ravens’ offense. They managed only 149 yards before the break.
RB Derrick Henry didn’t get untracked
Henry finished with 73 yards on 11 carries, but a lot of that came on a big run. And the number of attempts suggests the Ravens didn’t stick to the ground as much as they normally do.
Harbaugh said the loss is part of life in the NFL, according to foxsports.com.
“You’re not going to win every game,” he said. “It was a tough situation coming in here. I think our guys handled all of that pretty well. We operated pretty well, (but) we didn’t do enough. We didn’t make the plays and that’s really what it boils down to.”
However, defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike provided a more pointed response.
“We know we should’ve won that ballgame,” defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike said. “It hurts. It’s frustrating, point-blank frustrating. It hurts a little bit, but what can we do?”’
Kyle Hamilton dropped potential game-clinching pick
On an overthrown pass by Winston, Hamilton should have reeled in an easy interception. Hamilton touched the ball five times before it fell to the ground and gave the Browns one last breath that they turned into a win. Hamilton stayed face down on the ground for a few seconds, knowing he likely could have ended the game.
Also, safety Eddie Jackson missed a chance for an interception. At least Jackson had the courage to face the media.
“I’ve just got to come down with it,” Jackson said. “This one has got me sick. There is no big theory behind it. We’re just not making game-changing plays. We’ve just got to catch the ball. Now we’ve got to live with this one and take it on the chin. But this one sucks.”
Harbaugh had questions to answer for his rotation at the safety position. Marcus Williams didn’t play while Jackson and Ar-Darius Washington played alongside Hamilton. Harbaugh said the team is working through things, according to baltimoreravens.com.
“It was a personnel decision,” Harbaugh said. “We’re kind of working through some things there. I feel very confident Marcus is going to be out there playing great football for the rest of the season.”
Cornerback Brandon Stephens said the Ravens could have won the game, according to baltimoreravens.com.
“We definitely have had our opportunities,” cornerback Brandon Stephens said. “We had some opportunities in this game, even late in the fourth to end it. But it’s tough – we just have to capitalize when we get our hands on the ball.”
